New Study

This is a little study (5 x 7) of a West Kaysville scene that I have been working on for a few weeks (Antelope Island is in the distance). I'm considering doing a larger piece of it, but I'm not sure yet. Compared to the original, this photo tends slightly more towards yellow-green, and I may have lightened up the values a hair too much, but generally it's in the ballpark. More to come!

Irrigation

Here is a little 5"x 7" study that I did last weekend in anticipation of a larger painting to come. It's always interesting to see how pieces work at different sizes. A lot of great paintings that are fine as small pieces just don't work as large paintings. But, as with any process of creation, you'll never know for sure what it is just by mulling it over in your mind. It has to take physical form before you can see it for what it is and assess things correctly. I also think it's funny that we always want to paint summer scenes in the winter and vice-versa. Digital photography has heightened this ability. I would wager that some of the most sentimental Christmas songs were written in the heat of July when the memories were sweetest. Enjoy.

Brownstones to Red Dirt

I did this little painting for a charity auction that is part of a great project called "Brownstones to Red Dirt". Several people at Blue Sky created this project connecting kids from Brooklyn and Sierra Leone, and have made a documentary about it. Their website is: www.brownstonestoreddirt.com, and explains things more in-depth. As part of the project, they have asked a variety of artists to create a piece of art on a small wooden postcard which will then be auctioned off. They have created a blog where they are posting the artists' submissions: btorpostcards.blogspot.com. I'm a little chagrined that my piece has much less in common thematically with the subject matter than the other pieces, but it's always good fun to paint a lady with leaves in her hair. And while we're into full disclosure, the brush I used was on its last leg and quite ratty, so hold it back and squint for a slightly better experience...

This is a little sketch I did for Seeing the Everyday magazine (www.seeingtheeveryday.com). I finished it a few weeks ago, but have just posted this revised version from the initial pass I had up for awhile. The changes were minor but I think strengthened the piece. I was reminded again of just how vital good photo reference is to work from. This had to be highly stylized as a result of poor reference, and the results, while ok to go out the door, weren't as I would have hoped. Sure, blame it on the reference:)...

Holiday Treats!

So, for Christmas treats this year we roasted some nuts (coat them with egg whites, add some cinnamon and sugar...) and added this little tag. The bags were some that I had sitting around, and they were smaller than they should have been, perhaps, so it's good we had a tag to dress it up. Liz was the art director on the project, and it's good too, because my first few iterations were quite pitiful. Merry Christmas All!

This is the small study I did for the larger piece above. This measures about 1"x 4", and as with all studies, there is a certain immediacy and 'spark' that is fun. To help the effect, squint your eyes.
The larger piece is not that big (6"x 24") and depicts one of the cirques on the Mt. Timpanogos trail. My wife and I were hiking there this summer and on the way down the setting sun was spectacular. I couldn't take photos fast enough, and this was a conglomeration of several of them. The painting is working quite well, I think, and I would really love to do this piece larger. I can definitely point to things in this piece which are a result of knowledge gained--or at least refined--while at Blue Sky. The Art Director that I'm working with on 'Rio' and the other artists there have a really great sense of the use of lighting, value, and color as a means of telling a story and creating a focal point. Enjoy!

This is a revision of a piece from a few months ago. The original is a few posts back. The perspective was off, and it was hard to tell what was going on in the field with the ditches. So here's the next step. There are some things which are working better, and some things which are starting to get overworked. Doing most of it at 2 am probably didn't help the freshness of it:)